The major reason Donald Trump was elected to the job he is manifestly unfit for was his appeal to electors in the Rust Belt states. These states had seen a collapse of manufacturing jobs, i.e. union jobs, and millions of people were thrown from the middle class into the precariat. Instead of well-paid, reliable jobs with good benefits, they were delivered low-paid, unreliable jobs with poor benefits. Furthermore, they saw nothing better for their kids. Not surprisingly, they were filled with anger and despair, and in their desperation turned to Trump the saviour.
The U.S. has in fact become an anti-union nation. Just how anti-union is spelled out in a recent article in the New York Times entitled "Yes, America Is Rigged Against Workers" in which the author accuses his country of “anti-worker exceptionalism.” He points out that "the United States is the only advanced industrial nation that doesn’t have national laws guaranteeing paid maternity leave ... the only advanced economy that doesn’t guarantee workers any vacation ... and the only highly developed country (other than South Korea) that doesn’t guarantee paid sick days," and among the nations of the OECD, it "has the lowest minimum wage as a percentage of the median wage."
He suggests the overriding reason is the weakness of America's labour unions. Only 10.5 percent of American workers are unionized. In Germany, 18 per cent of workers are union members, in the U.K. 25 per cent and in Sweden 67 per cent. In Canada, 27 per cent.
The Times article emphasizes that union decline not only has enormous consequences for wages and benefits but also for politics and policymaking. He points out that while unions spend about $48-million a year lobbying in Washington, corporations spend $3-billion.
There is a lesson here for Canadians. If we want to allow workers the middle class luxury of voting after careful deliberation rather than with desperation, we must maintain a strong union sector to ensure they have a voice and to help maintain their confidence in the system. Unfortunately, union membership is currently declining in this country as it is in the U.S. This is, therefor, a good time to enhance the power of the union movement. We should be making it easier to form unions, particularly in the service sector, and mandating union representatives on corporate boards and worker councils in the workplace.
The alternative may be the election of a Donald Trump. And that, as we are seeing with our southern neighbour, is a disaster for democracy.
3 comments:
Organized labour, as it emerged out of World War II was instrumental in the evolution of a truly broad-based postwar middle class. It encompassed workers from industry, the trades and the professions. It was the ladder of social mobility. It was open to people of all political stripes.
The old middle class were savers and builders. When Reagan's "Age of Ruin" took hold they were replaced with a new class, borrowers and spenders. Bank balances plummeted, debt soared, notional wealth (underwritten by foreign lenders) abounded. It wasn't socialists but Ronald Reagan and his disciples who took down the United States of America and opened their country to the oligarchs.
There are anti-democratic forces at play in any democracy. They can be found in the fringes of the right and the left. It's a strong centre that keeps the radical right and radical left safely at bay but that centre did not hold in the United States allowing the radical right to amass considerable political and economic power.
Harper was notorious for suppressing labour in the federally governed sector. He had back-to-work legislation tabled as strikes began. It was a flagrant breach of international covenants on civil and human rights but no matter.
As part of a badly overdue restoration of progressive democracy we do need to breathe new life into Canada's labour relations. I had hoped that Trudeau might have taken up that torch but I've seen little sign of it.
I believe Wynne was moving in the right direction in Ontario, but now ...?
.. Will go with Mound on this..
I joined a union at age 21 working with triple max security juveniles.. Kindly vets had me under their wing immediately.. They knew why I was hired.. because I was an elite athlete.. ran with the wind or with escapees till they were exhausted from running. the Union vets wore hard steel toe boots.. were ex military, ex cops.. hardly in shape.. I wore red Converse sneakers was a farmboy varsity athlete. But they were not inclined to run across airport runways, train station lobbies in chase of wild teenagers who would kill or maim or take hostages.. Let the punkass kid do that shit was what one veteran union guy confided. I got wise real quick with their help and experience.. the Head Warden was pleased.. escape dwindled to approx zero during exchanges at airports and train stations, bus depots.. wherever.. I got a bi-weekly paycheque that blew my mind.. We had a lot of fun back then.. Hillcrest was a tight ship.. run right. I grew up a lot.. i still ran the farm, but I was learning from the pros.. the farmers and the union prison workers..
Day One.. an old salt locked me in a cell and walked away.. I was left there just 8 hours.. he made his point eloquently.. I heard the Head Warden laughed out loud.. and so did his salty crew.. well, Amen.. I laughed every time I saw my paycheque.. never went back to University basketball or football or track & field.. I had joined a part of the working world under the best circumstances.. pros to work under and with.. steady pay.. respect from my betters.. I was 21
Post a Comment